1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display apparatus utilizing optical fibers, and a fixing device for an optical fiber used in such a display apparatus. The present invention also relates to a decorative optical fiber which may be advantageously utilized when the display apparatus is constituted as a decorative illumination such as a chandelier.
2) Description of the Related Art
In an optical fiber display apparatus, a plurality of optical fibers are implanted in a display panel in such a manner that an end face of each optical fiber is exposed on a display surface of the panel. The other end faces of the optical fibers are optically connected to a light source, so that a light guided from the light source through each optical fiber is emitted from the exposed end face thereof, whereby images, characters, marks, symbols or the like can be displayed on the display surface of the panel. This optical fiber display apparatus has many advantages or merits in comparison with another display apparatus. For example, the optical fiber display apparatus can provide a very large display area which cannot be realized by a cathode-ray tube (CRT) display. Also, maintenance of the optical fiber display apparatus is easier than that of an LED large size display apparatus having a display panel on which a plurality of light emitting devices (LED) are mounted.
Conventionally, the optical fibers in the display panel are implanted by inserting the optical fibers through holes formed in the display panel, an adhesive is applied to a location at which each optical fiber is inserted, and after the adhesive has hardened, the exposed end faces of the implanted optical fibers are polished by a suitable abrasive machine or tool. These procedures are very troublesome, especially on site, and although the optical fiber display apparatus may be assembled in a factory, this is not preferable because it is costly to transport the assembled apparatus, due to a bulkiness thereof and because the optical fibers may be broken during the shipping thereof. In the conventional implanting operation, an exchange of a broken optical fiber for a new one is very difficult, due to the adhesive holding the optical fibers in the panel.
The display apparatus may be constituted as a decorative illumination, such as a chandelier, by extending and suspending the optical fibers from the display surface of the panel. In this case, the disadvantages as mentioned above are substantially the same for the decorative illumination.
In the optical fiber decorative illumination, the suspended optical fibers are frequently notched so that light leaks out of the notches of each optical fiber, resulting in an increase of an optically decorative effect of the optical fibers. Nevertheless, the conventionally notched or decorative optical fibers do not sufficiently increase the optically decorative effect, because the notches are formed as a V-shaped groove. Namely, the V-shaped groove must be shallow, to prevent a breaking of the decorative optical fiber, as much as possible, at the notched location. That is, if the notches are deeply formed in the optical fibers, to thereby increase the optically decorative effect thereof, these decorative optical fibers are very easily broken.